Springfield, IL... State Representative David Leitch (R-Peoria) is pleased to announce that two bills he passed in the Illinois House (HB 204 and HB 3746) have now passed the Illinois Senate and will be sent to the Governor.
House Bill 204 would require the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) to reimburse advanced practice nurses for psychiatric services they provide, as authorized by law, to Medicaid recipients.
Under current law, the Illinois Medicaid Program does not reimburse for Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) services delivered to patients for psychiatric conditions. By allowing reimbursements to APN's for mental health services, additional individuals may be reached in underserved populations such as rural areas and low-income urban settings. Delivery of services by APN's has been cost effective for the delivery of other health care services and would be a potential cost effective solution to increased delivery of mental health services.
"Since there are only 5,000 child psychiatrists in the U.S., this bill is of extreme importance for increasing behavioral healthcare services," Leitch said. "I have been trying to pass this for 10 years, so I thank Sen. Dale Risinger for his great work in the Senate."
The other bill passed, House Bill 3746 would provide that a county or municipality may not require a wind tower that is used exclusively by the end-user to be setback more than 1.1 times the height of the device from the property line.
"The problem is the current law is designed for wind farms, not a single user," said Leitch.
Under current law, counties and municipalities have the authority to regulate the sitting of wind farms or wind devices. However, if signed into law, this bill will ensure that a property owner can install a wind tower for personal purposes without having to adhere to county and municipal setbacks that are required for larger wind farms.
Leitch said he was pleased at the progress of his legislative agenda this session and went on to say that, "these two bills, especially, are of critical importance throughout the state and I am hopeful that Governor Quinn will soon sign them into law."